A lot of brides try to ‘get in shape’ for their wedding. For some people that means toning, some want to lose 10 pounds, some have specific areas they want to target.

After the wedding, a lot of brides head down the road towards motherhood, which is fantastic!  Some moms bounce right back into shape after they have their babies, and others, like me, have a much harder time.

Recently I’ve been making a lot of progress with my health and fitness, and I’ve decided to open up this personal chapter of my life.  It’s not wedding photography related, but since so many of us want to look ‘good’ in our photos, I think it may be an informative read for some.

I encourage dialogue, I’m open to helpful suggestions and sharing experiences. Since sharing my personal blog with friends and family I’ve been overwhelmed by the response, even from people I don’t know who have been told about the blog.  I truly appreciate anyone who has taken the time to read it.

So, here is my personal blog!

http://mindovermatter23.blogspot.ca/

And a sneak peek of the most recent post:

While most Edmontonians were cursing mother nature at the end of March, Alisha was thanking her for all the snow.  And her dream of a Rocky Mountain fairy tale wedding came true!

The festivities started with a pre-wedding party, with Inaayat’s family bringing gifts to Alisha, and Alisha’s family offering her blessings for her wedding day.

The following day, Alisha & Inaayat celebrated their traditional Muslim wedding ceremony in Edmonton.

Then we all headed down to Canmore for the reception!  The weather was beautiful, and we managed to find a few remnants of winter. Thanks to my awesome second shooter Tessa for some of these shots! (And thanks to Lanny for driving me around to look at a few different spots). As wedding photographers from Edmonton, we love getting out around the world (even close to home) and looking for new locations to work in.

Vera Wang wedding shoes!

The reception was at Silvertip Resort in Canmore.

The Muslim wedding reception begins with a few traditional ceremonies, including determining who wears the pants in the relationship, and presenting gifts to the brothers (including a signed Messier print and trip to Boston!)  Both Alisha & Inaayat have close relationships with their families, and throughout the night it was easy to see how much they are loved and supported.  Hearing Alisha’s twin brother’s toast to her was especially touching.

Shandro Photo is hiring an administrative assistant for this year. Please review the posting and see if you or someone you know would be a great fit for us! Thanks!

Sherise phoned one night, just before we were going off on another Shandro travel adventure. We’d talked over email a bit, but hadn’t connected to meet.  Within 5 minutes of picking up the phone her wedding was booked, and we were looking forward to meeting in a couple of months!  Sherise knew what she wanted, and we’re so thrilled that what she wanted was to work with us.  When I finally sat down to meet with her and Jon, I liked them instantly, and could see such an amazing connection between them.  Sherise is a bubbly person, but there is an extra twinkle in her eye when Jon is around.

Their whole wedding day was perfect. The weather was beautiful despite a dump of late March snow, the ceremony at reception at Countryside Golf Course (where Jon works) was elegant and whimsical, a beautiful woodland theme pulled everything together. The guests had an amazing time.  As a wedding planner, we knew Sherise would have a beautifully detailed wedding.

Ceremony and Reception: Countryside Golf Course
Flowers: Dasee Floral Boutique
Cake: Whimsical Cake Studio
Hair & Makeup: Shag Hair Studio

Special thanks to Funmi from FO Photography – Funmi and her husband are photographers from the UK who have relocated to Edmonton, and she came along to the wedding with us to experience a true winter wedding! The shot below is hers.

Sherise & Jon had a first look at the U of A – one of our favourite parts of a wedding.

Congratulations Sherise & Jon!

You can see more of their images in their online album slideshow here:

Sherise & Jon from Shandro Photo on Vimeo.

It’s been a pleasure watching this little lady grow up.  She was full of smiles for me in the studio!

She’s so mischievous is this one, and I love how she wrapped her little foot around the stool.

Little Uvan was welcomed into a beautiful warm family.  He’s an amazingly happy and well-behaved little guy, and his parents love him to pieces.  Happy half-year Uvan!

Payton is a beautiful sweet girl, but definitely an independent 1 year old! She was happy to roam around the studio. I’m looking forward to another shoot with her once spring arrives in Edmonton!

I had the pleasure of meeting Angela & Jaye at Bobbi Jo & Mike’s wedding last summer, and was so excited to hear that they were expecting!  I visited their home in St. Albert to commemorate this wonderful stage in their life. It has been a long journey for these two, and it is very clear that this baby is being welcomed into an incredibly warm and loving family.

Angela & Jaye were awesome to work with and I love that they wanted to incorporate special gifts from friends and family into their shoot.

Great news from this year’s national competition! 2 of Michael’s images took a score of Merit (to give you an idea of how awesome this is, there was only 1 image across all wedding categories that scored the highest mark of excellence), and one was accepted.  This is a fantastic result, as he is only allowed to enter 4 images. We’re super excited, and looking forward to the convention in Vancouver shortly to see if any of them take Best in Class this year!  Here are the images:

Merit: Wedding Portrait

Merit: Photojournalistic Wedding

Accepted: Wedding Group

The Saveraux family came in to the studio to celebrate mom’s 65th birthday! Happy birthday! It’s always great to work with such warm and friendly families.